Toys and Games That Get Parents and Kids Playing Together

Tag Archives: toy fair

Well, it’s February, so you know what that means. Parents@Play headed out to the New York Toy Fair to check out all the newest toys and games. Some of this year’s trends are continuations of last year’s, albeit somewhat updated. For example, dinosaurs, “mermaid” sequins (the kind that flip from one color to another), llamas, unicorns, glitter everything, narwhals, and coding games and toys are everywhere. As are blind bags, DIY and make it yourself kits, toys that require or interact extensively with apps, and poop. Yes, all sorts of poop in all sorts of ways. And the winner for combining trends goes to…. Glitter poop that uses an app. Wow.

Unicorns

Yes, they’re still as popular as ever. However, in the spirit of inclusiveness, now anything can have a magical horn. Cat? Yes. Llama? Of course. Marshmallow? Even you, little sugar spun bit of sweetness. If you like it, you’d better put a horn on it. Now. Otherwise, someone else will.

Last week, we told you about toy-and-game trends we’ll be following (and sharing with you, of course) in 2017. That was just the beginning. Here are a few more we didn’t have room for.

A Little Spit and Polish

Some of your favorite toys from last year are back again, but have been updated, upgraded, and given new bells and whistles. As we all know, sometimes the first iteration doesn’t always turn out exactly right. Some of these second tries aren’t worth the trouble, but others are fantastic.

Every year, hundreds of toy manufacturers descend on New York in what is almost always the coldest week of the year, to unveil their latest and greatest offerings. And every year, the Parents@Play Team braves the single-digit temperatures to identify what we believe you’ll be seeing a lot of in the months ahead. So, without further ado, here are the trends we expect to dominate in 2016. Over the next few months, we’ll be doing detailed reviews of many of the products we mention here—and plenty of others.

Sloths and Puppies

Animals are always popular. But this year, there’ll be a new species in town: sloths—the slowest mammals on earth—who are memorably and adorably featured in Disney’s “Zootopia” (opening in March). The other heroes from “Zootopia” will probably still be in line at the DMV when DreamWorks’s “Secret Life of Pets,” hits theaters in July, bringing to life a dizzying number of dogs, cats, and other hilarious animals.

Coding

The terms STEM and STEAM are being overused to the point where they’re nearly meaningless. But the underlying skills, including coding, are going to be critical to today’s children, who (hopefully) will become tomorrow’s leaders. Fisher-Price’s Code-a-Pillar and introduces coding concepts to toddlers. Code Gamer from Thames & Kosmos brings those same skills to kids 10 and up.

Build-it-Yourself Robots

VTech’s Mix & Move Bizzy introduces the basics of robot building to toddlers, while WowWee helps older kids refine those skills with their Maker kits, including Maker MiPosaur, Maker MiP, and Edu MiP.

Girl Power

Well, it’s about time! We’ll be seeing plenty of DC’s and Marvel’s female superheroes, including Black Widow, Wonder Woman, Super Girl, and others. We’ll also get introduced to the eponymous heroes of Nick’s “Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir.”

Personalization

This year, kids will be able to design Barbies and other dolls in their own image. But one of our favorites in this category is Budsies, which turns your child’s artwork into incredible, custom made (and wonderfully detailed) stuffed animals. The whole process takes a few weeks, but the end result is well worth the wait.

Real Construction

Will all the talk about technology, there’s still a place for good, old-fashioned construction. Real Construction has some great kits that combine tools and wood-like material to let young kids build practically anything—without any danger of hurting themselves.

Food Toys

Veggie Tales was all the rage a few years ago. This year, there’ll still be healthy food toys for kids to play with, but Kid Robots is introducing a line of smiling French fries, donuts, pretzels, cupcakes, and more for kids who like to play with their food.

Video Drones

These incredibly fun toys come in all sizes. Mota’s JetJat Nano is the smallest we’ve ever seen. And Skyrocket’s Sky Viper series now incorporates a variety of features (including GPS, auto hover, and auto landing) that make controlling your drone a lot easier, meaning you’ll be able to spend more time flying and less time retrieving your drone from your roof or your neighbor’s tree.

New Construction Systems

Don’t get us wrong—we adore LEGO. But there are a lot of other building systems out there that deserve a look. Kits from YOXO let kids connect paper towel tubes and other found items to create amazing structures. Brackitz and Miclik both use unique—and very versatile pieces to create equally amazing structures.

Every year, manufacturers of every toy, game, electronic device, and outdoor plaything you can imagine descend on New York for Toy Fair. It’s a completely overwhelming wonderland for your inner child—and the Parents@Play team is right there to cover it all. Our goal was to find out which trends will dominate the industry this year. Some things, like monsters, zombies, mustaches, and duct tape crafts (which we picked last year as trends to look for) are still holding strong. But there are also a number of new trends waiting to pounce on this year’s unsuspecting toy buyers. Here are our favorites:Continue reading →

The American International Fair gets underway next week in New York, and the Parents@Play team will be there. As in previous years, we’ll be meeting with manufacturers (small, medium, and large) and checking out the latest, greatest, unique, innovative, weird, entertaining, puzzling, creative, and just plain fun toys and games that parents and children can play together. Naturally, we’ll be telling you about the very best. One never knows from year to year what the hottest trends will be, but when it comes to making predictions, we’ve got an excellent record. Here are some of the categories we’ll be watching this year.

Digital tech. Doesn’t it seem that there’s an app for just about everything these days? Over the past few months, we reviewed a number of tablets and other tech devices aimed at kids. We expect to see many, many more this year.

Tech crossover. From Furby and Build a Bear to Skylanders and talking books, there are getting to be more and more toys that include a video game/web component with physical toys.

Social responsibility. Anti-bullying campaigns are everywhere. And they’ll be showing up in stores near you soon, where you’ll be able to buy toys and games that emphasize and encourage compassion, empathy, and ethical behavior.

Licensed figures. Just about every popular TV show, movie, and performer is getting involved in licensing. So in addition to classics such as Star Wars, Toy Story, Iron Man, and other superheroes, expect to see characters from The Hunger Games, Doc McStuffins, Miley Cyrus, Mr. Peabody, and even Breaking Bad. They’ll be available as action figures, plush toys, and even Lego figures.

Building systems. Although Lego still dominates the building space, there are dozens of other systems out there that encourage creativity, teamwork, and engineering.

Fitness. 2013 saw a huge boom in family fitness apps and gadgets, including fitness trackers that go far beyond old fashioned pedometers. Expect to see games, apps, and hardware that encourage families to get their daily 60 minutes of exercise.

Remote control. Joysticks may still be the primary way of maneuvering RC devices, but they’re no longer the only way. One of our favorite RC toys from 2013 was the Puzzlebox Orbit, which uses brain waves to move a helicopter up and down. We can hardly wait to see how far the technology has advanced in the past year (and what else RC will control besides robots and helicopters).

Retro. If you’re experiencing a sense of déjà vu when you walk through your local toy retailer, you’re absolutely right. Many of the toys and games we played with as kids are making a comeback. Some are exactly as we remember them (but safer). Others are pretty close.

Back to the basics. As much emphasis as there is on technology, there’s also been a resurgence in wooden toys and other items that don’t squeak, blink, whistle, move by themselves, or talk back.

Environmentally friendly. Manufacturers will be flaunting their green chops. We’ll see a lot more BPA, PVC, and phthalate-free toys, products made from recycled or all-natural materials or painted in non-toxic dyes, and games that encourage players to use items they have around the house.

With more than 1,000 exhibitors previewing tens of thousands of new products, we’re going to be seeing more than we can possibly write about in a weekly column. However, we’ll be tweeting and blogging as often as we can, so we encourage you to visit parentsatplay.com for regular updates.

Going to Toy Fair is always a bit overwhelming. To start with, hundreds of manufacturers from all over the world are showcasing thousands of products. Some are amazing, innovative, and creative. Some are copycats or retreads, and some are just plain awful. But what’s especially fun is trying to predict which of the trends we’re seeing will actually become hits—and which will bomb. Here are a few categories we think are worth watching. Some of these are already hot—and we believe will get even hotter. Some are just appearing but will be all the rage in 2013. Over the next few months your parents@play team will bring you reviews of these and many, many other categories.

ArcheryWith the amazing success of the movies Hunger Games, Brave, and the Avengers—all of which featured archers—it was only a matter of time until bows and arrows took their place alongside swords as the low-tech weapons of choice for today’s young adventurers. Everyone from well-known brands like Nerf (hasbro.com) and Zing (zingtoystore.com) to tiny brands you’ve never heard of (but will soon), have introduced bows or crossbows that fire a variety of (safe) projectiles.

Zombies and VampiresThe Twilight series, Dark Shadows, and animated fare like Frankenweenie and ParaNorman have taken vampires and zombies out of the crypt and enrolled them in high school. The Monster High girls have been out for a while. But some of the most fun—and most creative—are the face-changing Mystixx Vampires (mystixx.com). At first glance you’ve got a cute-as-a-button doll. Turn the head around, rearrange the hair, and you’ve got one stylin’ vampire.

MoustachesMaybe it started with the Got Milk? mustache campaign. Or maybe it was the Movember campaign when men around the world grow their facial hair during the month of November to raise awareness of prostate cancer and other men’s health concerns. But however it happened, mustaches are hot. And not just for men and boys—plenty of girls are getting in on the act as well. We especially liked the Ha! Ha! Moustache game from Haywire Group (haywiregroup.com) where player try to identify famous (or infamous) people based on a cardboard mustache and a handful of clues. And Stachetats (stachetats.com) has a line of wild and colorful temporary upper lip decorations for every taste.

Duct tapeOnce upon a time duct tape was grey, sticky, boring, and available only in hardware stores. Today, there are entire aisles in arts and crafts stores devoted to far less sticky, and definitely not boring duct tapes in dozens of colors and patterns. Specialty companies like Creativity for Kids (creativityforkids.com) and Klutz (klutz.com) have wonderfully colorful kits that are built around duct tape. And so do some of the giants, like Melissa and Doug.

From app to realityAnother interesting trend is to take popular apps like Fruit Ninja and Angry Birds and turn them into real-life games. Sometimes there’s a branding double whammy, such as when Star Wars character start flying through the air knocking down structures.

Pink and glitter
Just about anything you can imagine–building systems like Lego and Megabloks, science kits, tattoos, cameras, mustaches, sports equipment, action figures, and even guns and other weapons—are now available in pink and glitter.